REVENGE OF THE FAIRY QUEEN The unauthorized sequel to Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Titania realizes that Oberon has duped her into falling in love with a mortal transformed into an ass. Furious, she plots revenge, to be carried out on Midwinter’s Day. Her plot, though, goes awry and many complications ensue. Cast: 12 – 4 female, 5 male, 3 non-gender.

At long last, I have video from the 2015 production of my one-act THE ONE-WORD MACBETH by Pop Culture Theatre of Melbourne, Australia. The show –and the actresses who performed it — won a bunch of award that year in the Victorian Drama League competition. You can find a full list here.

Pop Culture also produced my one-act THE RULES ARE THE RULES ARE THE RULES in the 2017 Victorian Drama League season. Madeline Hardie, who starred here as Macbeth, was in that one, as well.

Meanwhile, THE ONE-WORD MACBETH has gone on to be published by Brooklyn Publishers.

The Melbourne theatre company Pop Culture Theatre is producing my one-act THE ONE WORD MACBETH to enter in festivals around the state of Victoria over the coming months. The first production was July 25 in Macedon, Victoria.

The host theatre, Mount Players, tells me: “They were nominated for best production and best director. They won the youth encouragement award. Also, the girl who played Banquo won the VDL (Victorian Drama League) Most Promising Performer award. So it’s safe to say they did your work proud!”

The awesome poster.

Here’s how Pop Culture Theatre described it:

A cold weekend up in Macedon – cold, but fun! The Mount Players put on a great festival and were very welcoming to PCT for only our second outing down that way. All four of our plays went over well, as adjudicator Ray Hare was more than happy to tell all. “PCT strikes again!” he said, frequently, complementing us on our fine work, meeting the theatrical challenges of our scripts with nuanced performances and poignancy. All his words.

This weekend also saw our youth group hit the stage for the first time, with “One Word Macbeth”. And as you’ll see from the results, the kids sure came out swinging!

Congratulations to all winners and nominees, and to all for another great festival. Now we have a short break before heading down to Foster in August for the South Gippsland Festival! Stay tuned for details about dates!

And also this note to me:

We are very proud of our girls. The adjudicator noted that on your description you called it a play for 10, 12 or 14. You may wish to revise that as it is very much possible with just 5.

They smashed it. The adjudicator refused to split the Best Youth Actress Award and so gave it to them jointly. They were also nominated for Best Production. Not Best Youth Production, but in the overall category.

And the audience loved it. Festivals are very much a theatre crowd and so everyone knows what is going on which makes the ‘Tomorrow’ section so funny.

Hamlette (left) and Laurita (right) in their sword fight at the climax of “Sweets to the Sweet.”

In September, Gorilla Tango Theatre in Skokie, Illinois (an offshoot of the one in Chicago proper) staged my full-length script “Sweets to the Sweet.” At last, here are some photos from the show.

“Sweets to the Sweet” is my re-write of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. I’ve switched the genders — so Hamlet becomes Hamlette, Laertes becomes Laurita, Ophelia becomes Phil, Claudius becomes Claudia and so forth — and set the show in a modern-day slumber party. The language is modern, but includes all the famous Shakespeare lines. To me, it’s a way to help introduce audiences to the real thing. Plus, it creates a lot of female roles in what otherwise is a male-heavy show — and allows for some girls to try out stage combat.

Here’s the post that the Gorilla Tango Theatre in Skokie, Illinois (Chicago ‘burbs!) is using for my show “Sweets to the Sweet.” This is a modern version of Hamlet, with a gender-reversed cast — so Hamlet becomes Hamlette, Ophelia becomes Phil and so forth.

Alas, in converting this from a pdf to a jpeg, the photo lost a lot of quality. I assure you the original is quite spectacular, with a woman’s pensive eyes looking out . . . presumably Hamlette herself.

At the season finale for the reading series at the Liminal alternative artspace, I lucked out. Organizer Cara Modisett had multiple students interested in reading/performing, and I had multiple pieces available.

Here’s Chantel Wilson, a student at Community High School of Arts and Academics, performing a staged reading of my short piece, “Lady Macbeth’s Lament.”

This was on May 21, 2013 in Roanoke, Va.

Here’s my official description:

LADY MACBETH’S LAMENTThe ghost of Lady Macbeth laments that Shakespeare never gave her a name. Cast: One female. Running time: Three minutes.

I also explored the question of my Lady Macbeth doesn’t have a name in my one-act, “Macbeth, the Prequel.” You can find video of a production of that script here.

Dwayne Yancey is a playwright from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. He’s had scripts produced throughout the United States, Canada, Great Britain and other locations abroad. For more on his work, contact him directly at dwayneyancey@gmail.com.